The Many Faces Of Avery Brown
by Sapphire1998
Summary: Avery Brown was an enigma. A simple boutique owner. A beautiful lady. A dangerous vampire. A resourceful Original. She was the one who Elena went to for help, one of the few people who could keep even Katherine in line, and the Original sister who both Elijah and Klaus secretly feared. But to Damon, she was just Avery - the greatest mystery he intended to solve.
1. A Mirror With Many Faces

"Will that be all Ms. Brown?"

The scruffy man dressed head to toe in blue stood beside her with hands on his hips and a pencil tucked in the little space between his left ear and forehead. His voice was slightly breathless due to the heavy lifting he had just done, but he tried to hide it by facing the doors of her new leased property.

Not like it stopped her from noticing anyways.

She saw everything.

With a gentle smile on her face she signed all the paperwork neeeded to pay for the delivery service and get rid of him as soon as possible. She had just about finished moving her things into the retail store; even the clothes and accessories. A little rearranging here and there and she'd be ready to open for business. It was worth celebrating, and Avery Brown certainly didn't celebrate in the company of sweaty, leering, out of breath bafoons.

"Yes. That will be all. Thank you Brad," she said handing him the notepad with the papers.

"It's Chad," he replied. As if it actually made a difference.

Avery's smile turned thin. "Right."

She walked inside her shop and firmly shut the doors from behind, leaving _Chad_ on the outside staring longingly.

Once inside, she took a moment to survey the shop from left to right. Considering it was an extension of her, Avery's Boutique had to look as chic and elegant as Avery Brown herself. Some might call her thoughts conceited and arrogant, but she called it being confident without fear of other people's judgement.

The walls were white and rich purple, the floors were covered in tiles of black and white marble, and bright lights focused on mannequins and clothing racks that surrounded the entire boutique. Stereo players were situated at four corners of the room along with eye catching items that would entice even the most realistic and smart shoppers. All in all, Avery was pleased. It was excellent, but not perfect. Never perfect. There would always be room for improvement.

Avery had to almost remind herself that this was just the side job. She had bigger fish to fry in Mystic Falls and being the owner of a new boutique was just the cover she needed to announce her reappearance in the quaint little town of Virginia.

* * *

After a day of unpacking, rearranging, and cleaning the shop Avery was ready to curl up in her comfiest pair of silk pajamas with a cup of wine and a plate full of macarons.

But, no. This wasn't Paris and she no longer had the luxury to lie around in her bed all day while spoiling herself on exquisite books, music, and art. Remind her again why she decided to leave all of that and come to One Tree Hill 2.0? Paris had been the city of comfort and fun. And food, let's not forget the food. In the last fifty years, nothing had ever tasted as delicious to Avery as her hotel's personal chef.

French blood had a certain je ne sais quoi to it.

Erasing her mind of nostalgic thoughts, Avery walked with determination to the one place in Mystic Falls where she knew she would be welcome. No, not the Mystic Grill. Although she could use a drink to wash away her slight hesitance, she needed to be at a certain place far more important if she was to succeed in her plans.

As it always is, they started with someone oblivious of the plans all together. And in this case that person just happened to be a strawberrry blonde psych major with way too many responsiblities than she could handle and not enough friends for her to count on. Luckily for Jenna Sommers, Avery was in the mood to make friends. Or, well, reconnect with old friends to be exact. Who said that the most cunning people couldn't be kind as well? She could be both. A mirror with many faces.

The door of the Gilbert house opened to reveal a lanky boy with shaggy brown hair that reached almost to his chin and eyes so sad that it made even her blink.

 _Oh. Right. They were orphans now._

She mentally scolded herself for forgetting that just for a second.

"Hi. Does someone by the name of Jenna live here? I'm an old friend of hers from Whitmore and I was told that this was her address, but I'm new to town so I'm not really not sure of anything..."

She played the role of the rambling, clueless new neighbour to a tee. The objective of leaving a naive but good second impression on a Gilbert? Check. Even from a few steps afar she could tell Jeremy Gilbert's interest peaked and his defences down.

"...Avery?"

"...Jeremy?" she replied in the same tone of voice as if she was just now remembering who he was.

"Yeah. We met three years ago at a Christmas party," he told her and then frowned remembering that it was his parents that held the party and now his parents were dead. Yikes.

She grinned to divert the conversation. "Oh. Now I remember. You're her nephew right? Yeah, I remember speaking with you briefly that night. It was a really fun party."

"Yeah. It was." He smiled again, still looking ever the sad puppy. She almost gave in and squeezed his cheeks right then and there. He was _that_ adorbs. "So what are you doing here?"

"Just stopping by to paint the town red and wreak havoc on all your boring small town lives," Avery replied nonchalantly.

Jeremy's smile grew by an inch. "Well if you're looking to enlist Jenna as your sidekick I'm afraid she's not here."

Avery frowned. "Huh. Well I was hoping to surprise her, but now I guess I'll just have to meet her somewhere."

Jeremy stared at her expression, hesitated for a moment, but then decided to give into that little angel on his shoulder. Avery smirked inside knowing what he was going to ask before he actually did.

"Well if you want you can come in and wait for her to return."

"Wait, really? Are you sure?" she asked, widening her eyes for affect.

"Why not? It's not like you're a serial killer or anything." Jeremy chuckled, opening the door even further.

She laughed along with him for entirely different reasons and made her first two steps inside the house. The objective of being invited in, therefore getting free entry to the Gilbert household forever? Check.

Maybe her stay in Mystic Falls would be worth leaving behind that tasty Paris chef after all.

* * *

"You're really staying here?" asked Jenna disbelievingly for the hundreth time.

"Yes. For God's sakes, I've already moved into my new house and everything." Avery was getting a little tired of repeating herself this many times in less than an hour.

"But...but why?" questioned Jenna once again. "I know you were taking a semester off from college to travel, but you decided to drop out of Whitmore entirely? What are you going to do now?"

"I bought a boutique for myself a block away from the Grill. It's really nice. You should come to the opening next week."

Jenna stared at her scrutinizingly. If Avery wasn't a thousand year old undercover Original she might have withered under her look, but unfortunately for Jenna she could hold her own in this stare-down. A minute later Jenna sighed and looked away. "So that's your plan then? Running a boutique your entire life? It just doesn't sound like an Avery Brown kind of thing to do."

Avery shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just going with the flow right now. Seeing what life has to offer. I visisted my home town in England and lived the high life in Paris already. Now I want to know what it's like living in a small town in the states. I remembered what Mystic Falls was like when I came down here with you during our winter break three years ago and I thought it was the perfect place to start."

She hoped that Jenna would give it a break already. She really wasn't in the mood to stay in doors and talk all day when there was so much sight seeing to do.

Ok. Maybe that was an exaggeration. But even though this town was small, Avery still had to know it's ins and outs before everything went to hell.

"It's not like I need a high paying job anyways," she carried on, lowering her voice at the end. She hoped that Jenna still remembered her fake orphan story. It was one of her more creative ones. Father died of cancer. Mother suicided. Avery, their single child, inherited everything and moved from her mansion in England to the U.S.

Jenna's eyes widened in sorrow. Wonderful. As someone who had just lost her sister, she could relate to her imaginary grief.

"How about we go out tonight? Just you and me Brown," she finally spoke in an effort to bring up their spirits.

Avery smiled angelically. "Are you sure? I know you have two teenagers to look after now. I would hate to be a burden."

"You're not! I need a day off anyways. Stop worrying. We'll go to the Grill first. We can catch dinner there and I think there's even a band playing tonight! And then we can rent a DVD on our way back, you can pick up some things from your house, and we'll slumber it like we used to in our dorm rooms during exam week."

"Sounds great." Avery got up from her seat on the living room couch with a wide grin. "I'm really glad I have someone I know in this town."

"Mystic Falls is full of super nice people," said Jenna reassuringly, getting up as well. "I'm sure you'll make friends real quick."

 _Oh, she intended to._

* * *

"So this is where you spend your Friday nights?"

The Grill was a restaurant with a bar, a karaoke stage, pool tables, and a small area to throw darts. The ambiance was "chill" and laid back. Avery wasn't very impressed.

Her trusted tour guide gave her a knowing look. "How do you like it?"

"It's cozy," Avery answered honestly. "Like the library at Whitmore."

Jenna snorted. "Well I'm sorry if this is a downgrade from pubs in Paris, but it has it's own unique charm."

Avery nodded her head, thinking it would be better if she didn't say anything in return. She suppose she would have to keep an open mind about this town from now on. At least it was an improvement compared to when she and her family lived here as humans. She exhaled slowly, shaking away that thought.

Avery had to focus on the future, not the past.

As both ladies sat down at a table by a window Avery looked around the room and met the curious eyes of strangers. She didn't have to try hard to know what they were thinking. Her vampire hearing could catch all the conversations held in the room if she wanted it to.

 _Who's the new girl?_

 _Oh! I remember her. Jenna's college friend. Ava. No. Amanda. No. Alice?_

 _You go up to her._

 _No. You go up to her!_

 _No. You! Come on. Man up._

 _He's just being a wimp cuz he knows he'll never hit it. A girl like her would never say yes to a guy like him._

 _She looks stuck up. Wait._ _Did she just glare at me? What a bitch!_

Avery had to resist from rolling her eyes.

She hated small towns even more than she hated her last boyfriend. Considering that she drowned him in a bucket of his own fancy booze, she wondered what this place would look like when she was through with it.

"Ugh. Scumfell just texted me again," said Jenna in disgust, distracting her from her eavesdropping. "I can't believe he thinks reaching out now will make a difference."

"Text back pretending that you changed your number," Avery told her while grabbing another thin carrot from the side of her plate. "A simple 'Who the hell is Jenna and who the hell are you?' should suffice."

Jenna's eyes lit up with amusement. "Oh my god! Yes! I should totally do that."

Avery smiled at her. She might be using Jenna for infiltrating the Gilberts but that didn't make her any less of a friend. And Avery valued friendship above a lot of things so that meant Jenna was officially on her Do Not Kill List during her stay in Mystic Falls.

Everyone else was fair game.

* * *

He stared at her through the window with an inquisitive look.

Well, as inquisitive as he could get while looking through the eyes of his raven.

She sat across from her friend with proper posture and an air of elegance that radiated superiority and confidence. Her hair, the colour of dark chocolate, was let loose in waves that cascaded past her shoulders and reached to her elbows. She was wearing a fitted black top and dark skin tight jeans with a long white fall jacket and an expensive gold necklace and a matching watch.

He didn't have to be an expert in fashion to know that her outfit probably cost more than his finest bottle of bourbon.

As she turned her head to look out the window he caught a glimpse of her face for the first time. He wasn't surprised when he saw her beauty. Flawless skin, high cheekbones, red lips, and dark brown eyes that scanned the grounds outside as if she knew she was being watched.

Her eyes narrowed by the slightest when she saw no one staring at her before she turned her head to resume her conversation with Jenna.

Elena's Aunt Jenna.

 _That was interesting_.

His raven flew a couple feet away and landed at the top of a lamp post at the corner of the street. From there he saw her laugh open heartedly at something Jenna said and take a sip of her cocktail. Her laugh turned a couple of heads near their table. She seemed to be the center of attention.

Damon's attention however was on a frowning blonde that hurriedly walked out of the restaurant in classic Caroline Forbes fashion. Based on the little amount of time he spent getting to know her, Damon guessed that she was slightly jealous.

Not that he blamed her. He too only just recently made his arrival in Mystic Falls public information and he had received none of the awe and gossip that this dark haired beauty was getting right now. Where was _his_ group of secret admirers and jealous haters? He was a vampire damn it. He should be causing even more heads to turn his way than this random nobody.

Damon shook his head and the raven disappeared. He stepped out of the shadows of a building near the Grill and jumped into the driver's seat of his blue Camaro, stepping on the gas so he could catch up to Caroline's disappearing figure down the street. He had a brother to annoy and a dinner party to crash.

The regal, attention seeking stranger at the Grill meant nothing to him.

* * *

 **Hello and welcome to my first story on this site "The Many Faces of Avery Brown." I'm very excited to start this journey as a writer and I hope you all liked the first chapter enough to continue to read the story. Updates will be slow since I'm still in school, but I aim to update at least once or twice a month.**

 **My recommended playlist of songs to listen to while reading this story:**

 **Miss Jackson ~ Panic! At The Disco**

 **Female Robberry ~ The Neighbourhood**

 **Gasoline ~ Halsey**

 **Go ~ Meg Myers**

 **Too Close ~ Alex Clare**

 **Gold ~ Imagine Dragons**

 **DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES BOOKS OR TV SHOW. The only thing I take credit for are my own made up characters like Avery.**

 **Also as a side note, this story won't be completely about romance and Damon/Avery all the time. It's a slow burn kind of relationship and it will take a long time for them to be together. Avery won't just steal Elena's place in Damon's life and she won't be his side piece while he secretly loves his brother's girl either. She has more self-respect than that.**

 **If you liked this chapter, do let me know by leaving a review. Hearing some feedback would be really helpful and encourage me to work on this story a lot more. Thank you so much for reading and have a good day :)**


	2. A New Neighbour

Avery groaned quietly as she looked at the texts Jenna sent her overnight.

Turns out that there was a Founder's party held by the Lockwoods and the not-so-secretive vampire hating council in the large white mansion owned by the mayor's family. The party was another small town tradition here. Avery fought the urge to show up and argue with everyone about who the _real_ founders of Mystic Falls were. The founding families, as they liked to call themselves, had gotten much too arrogant and glib for her liking.

She stared at the phone in her hands, pondering on her decision, before replying back with, _Fine. Pick me up at seven._

Getting up from her bed took more effort than she'd like. After showering and getting dressed she made her way around town, memorizing where all the important places were and the places people tended to avoid the most. There wasn't really much to this town as she came to realize after making a whole round around Mystic Falls in her electric blue Subaru. It was a new car which cost a good amount of money but it wasn't wildy expensive either and didn't stand out as too flashy in a place like this.

As she parked in the lot in front of her boutique she noticed a raven gracefully flying over to the windowsill of her shop. She ignored it, not giving it too much thought, and unlocked her doors for another day of last minute preparations before the big opening which was tomorrow. She had spread the word around town and thanks to Jenna she was sure that a good amount of people were going to come.

Now she just had to find employees for the boutique and she was good to go. She didn't need much help at first because she was going to stick around to make sure things were running smoothly at the beginning, but after that efficient workers were needed to pick up where she slacked off due to being occupied with other business.

She couldn't let this become her top priority after all. Not while a certain doppleganger was in town, and not while the whole supernatural world was on it's edge waiting for the suspenseful tension that had been building up for hundreds of years to come to it's head.

* * *

Sipping delicately from her glass of champagne, Avery roamed her eyes around the crowd of people at the event. If she had learned anything from her days as an Original it was that being alert at all times was a must, especially when you're surrounded by people who appear to be nice and innocent but would love to stake you the moment you turned your back.

Mystic Falls Council I'm looking at you.

It was bad enough that she had to pretend to look up to these people as they were the apparent "Founding Families," but now she had to mingle with them too. Fake pleasantry and polite chit chat was something Avery had adapted to excel in a long time ago, but still found oh so incredibly boring. When she was still considered an Original, her family always sent her as the distraction. Elijah told her to take it as a compliment; he said it meant that her beauty, grace, and wit outshined all the others in her family and that she was best at working her charm. But Avery knew he was just saying that because they didn't want to send Rebekah to do her job instead. Her little sister always got attached while she could play the role given and manipulate the opposite side without feeling any guilt or remorse.

She was good at acting. It was the main reason why none of Klaus or Elijah's little spies had found her yet. After all the years they spent persuading her to continue practicing the art of deluding others it had changed something inside of her. And ironically, the skill she wasn't really proud of now saved her life more than a few times and prevented her brothers from finding her, working in her favour instead of theirs. What she wouldn't do to see Klaus's face after he realized that she had managed to leave Paris right underneath his nose. Avery supposed that was why he wanted to break his curse and make more hybrids; his current minions quite frankly sucked.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a flash of black hair and blue eyes that she recognized immediately. That face was one she spent a long time staring at through her laptop before arriving here. Wearing a sleek black blazer over a black buttoned up shirt on top of black pants was a Damon Salvatore staring back at her with a small smirk on his face.

Avery mentally rolled her eyes. As if wearing all black wasn't a dead give away. And really, who wore that to an event like this anyways? It was a big no no in her books. All black was only appropriate for hunting, sleuthing, or funerals. Definitely not for light, happy community get togethers. He might as well have brought a sign along with him that said "Free High Fives From Your Dangerous Neighbourhood Vampire!"

But as was her life, she couldn't voice her opinion on it out loud or show any signs of her obvious knowledge of him. So in response to his suggestive look, she sent a coy smile in return. His smirk widened and he started to walk towards her from the corner of the room.

Ok, Damon, she thought to herself. Let's see where you're going with this.

He walked with an easy confidence and smile, head held high and piercing blue eyes that never left hers. Deep, deep, down a miniscule part of her couldn't help but think that he somehow managed to make the all black look work.

She still wanted him gone though. Damon would no doubt complicate things if he was staying here.

"Avery Brown," he said drawing out her name as he approached her. "Pleasure to make your aquantaince, my lady."

She raised an eyebrow as he kissed the back of her hand.

Wow. _Really?_ That was strike two in her mind. Another dead give away that he wasn't from this era. Smooth talking like that could get you killed nowadays. If he was smart he would know not to speak or act like a gentleman anymore. Chivalry died a long time ago, idiot.

"Damon Salvatore," she replied with a small nod. "The other newcomer I assume?"

He blinked. "Well. It seems we both know of each other already."

The humor in his tone did nothing to shield away the surprise.

Avery smiled. "Yes. It seems so."

The conversation ended to silence. It wasn't awkward, nor was it peaceful. Just two minutes of assesing each other openly. To everyone else it might have looked like they were checking each other out, but in reality they were just trying to figure out if the other was a threat.

"So, where did you come from?" Damon resulted to ask.

"Recently, Paris. But I was born and raised in England."

"England?" he repeated. "I don't detect an accent."

"I've learned to adapt," Avery retorted truthfully. _You kind of have to when you're on the run._

Damon continued to stare at her. She wasn't wearing any lapiz lazuli jewlerry, that was for sure. It was sunny indoors so that crossed vampire off his check list. He had his raven following her the whole day and he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Damon considered her being a rich travelling socialite from England for a second, but then discarded that rubbish thought because he knew that no person born into wealth and fame would choose to live in Mystic Falls without a reason. His guess was on her being a witch or a distant relative of some fancy, self conceited council member. Based on her appearance which consisted of a royal purple dress without sleeves that stopped right above her knees, her simple but expensive diamond necklace, and her physique, Damon didn't think she could be a vampire hunter. Real vampire hunters usually had scars, wore clothing that could hide weapons, and seemed to be defensive and reserved.

He really hoped that she would just be a distant relative of someone at the party. Having a strange witch he knew nothing about in Mystic Falls around the time he was going to open a tomb filled with vampires could be a problem for him.

"Damon, there you are!"

He turned around to spot his new pet, Caroline, along with his brooding brother and the Katherine look alike. What great company he had. Already, he could see Caroline subtly glaring daggers at Avery and his brother's mind churning with thoughts about what he was doing with her.

"Avery?"

The sound came from Elena. Her face broke out into a wide smile which made him want to grab another drink to swallow down his bitterness. It was just like Stefan to start dating the exact replica of Katherine. Even the way he looked at her was exactly same way. It sickened Damon. It was as if he thought since things didn't go well the first time, he could just get with Katherine 2.0 - the new and human version with straight hair and a nicer personality.

"I can't believe Jenna never told me!"

His attention was brought back to the conversation taking place in front of him. He noticed the way they both hugged each other closely. The way Avery's mood seemed to magically improve once she saw Elena. And the way she briefly looked between him and his brother, keeping her silent thoughts to herself. Hmm.

"Well she's been busy chasing off Logan Fell," Avery replied indicating to the back of the room. "I met Jeremy at your house the other day, though. He probably forgot to tell you."

Elena's smile almost vanished from her face. "Yeah. He probably forgot."

Avery looked at her expression in a curious manner. Maybe things weren't going so well between the siblings. _Whatever_. She internally shrugged, not about to add that to the list of things she cared about.

Glancing at Stefan again from the corner of her eye, Avery almost started giggling. The Ripper of Monterey was enamored with Katherine Pierce's doppleganger. How hilarious was that. When her own spies had informed her about Katherine's boy toys from 1864 running around in Mystic Falls she initially thought she would hate the situations that she would have to endure, but this...this was kind of _fun._

Avery knew Katherine had faked her own death and turned both of the Salvatore brothers before leaving them behind for good, but she hadn't met either of them before. She had heard of Stefan's wrong doings and Damon's obsession with freeing Katherine from a tomb, which of course she was not in, from her informants. They sent her pictures, emails, texts, anything related to them at all so she knew what she walking into before coming here. Avery had to admit that their life story was kind of sad, but as was mostly every other vampire's. Never had she met someone that turned on their own will and lived happily ever after. Being played by Katherine did not mean that they were in any way special. She had done the same thing to countless men before them. It just meant that they were easy to manipulate - a fact Avery hoped was still true.

"So how long are you staying in town?" Elena asked her excitedly.

"I'm not sure," said Avery, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I bought a house and opened up a business for now. We'll see how that goes first."

"Avery as in Avery's Boutique?" Caroline asked.

She made a mental note to thank whoever sent her that list of Elena's friends with some basic background information on them. Caroline was the human blonde cheerleader; over emotional; insecure; gay father and a sheriff as a mother. "Yup. Opening is tomorrow. Spread the news!" she replied with a carefree laugh.

Caroline said nothing in response, looking away from Avery in what she could only decipher as snobbiness. Stupid humans. Avery bit her tongue to not demand the respect she knew she deserved from someone as young and naive as Caroline Forbes. Although she had to admit that meeting someone who wasn't treating her with false kindness like the mayor's wife had done earlier was kind of refreshing.

"I have to go find my mom," the girl said giving a pointed look to Damon. His eyes narrowed slightly, but his grin never left his face.

"Of course," he said, offering her his arm. They walked away from them towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Avery sharply noticed that he was leading her the wrong way as her mother was actually in one of the rooms downstairs. He obviously knew that because he had the same senses as her. She thought about following them for a second, but then decided against it. She knew that it would probably result in her being outed to him as a vampire, and she wasn't ready for either of the brother's to know that just yet.

* * *

As she idly chatted with some Fell or another, she kept her eyes discreetly locked on her previous companions. Damon was chatting with Elena and Stefan and Caroline were drinking champagne on the dance floor. Avery was surprised with all these adults around that no one reprimanded them for underage boozing, but they weren't her responsibility so she let that slide. People from this generation were so lost in their own world, she thought silently. How did no one notice that this was their third glass? Maybe they just didn't care.

The evening slowly came to an end as more and more people started to leave. The ones she said goodbye to promised to show up at her opening, exchanged hugs and farewells, and left the house with their dates. Avery had half a mind to leave as well, alone considering she couldn't find Jenna anywhere, but ended up secretly following Stefan Salvatore out of the Lockwood mansion instead. He wouldn't just leave Elena inside like that, so she figured that this had something to do with his troublesome brother.

And her guess was proved correct when she spotted Damon feeding on Caroline outside in the shadows behind the property. A sudden urge to go and push him away surprised Avery and caused her to frown at herself. She shouldn't be caring about who he kills. Luckily for Caroline, Damon stopped himself and fell to the ground in pain while Stefan came from behind him to heal her and carry his body away from the scene. His last words resonated inside her head.

"I knew I couldn't spike your drink, so I spiked hers."

Well played Stefan. Now if only he had noticed the topaz amulet on the ground beside Damon. Avery continued to watch as Caroline picked it up herself, not knowing the power that the necklace held, and dusted it off with her ruined dress. Elena came out pretty soon after that and comforted her while she broke into tears.

Walking back to her car, Avery digested all the new pieces of information she had received tonight. First, Stefan somehow had vervain. That meant that she would be unable to compel certain people in town, which put her at a slight disadvantage. Next, after his epic fail, Damon was no doubt probably locked up somewhere in the Salvatore Boarding House. She also undoubtedly knew that he wouldn't stay there forever especially because he was closer than ever to opening that drasted tomb.

Avery thought about the predicament at hand while driving to her average suburban house. The only reason she came to town this early was because the Salvatores were here. They didn't know anything about the curse or the Originals yet, that much she was sure of. Avery had watched over Mystic Falls and Elena Gilbert ever since she saw her at that Christmas party three years ago. When supernatural beings made an appearance in town looking for the moonstone or the doppleganger Avery knew she had to be here to stop them. With Damon and Stefan returning she was worried that it would attract attention to the small town.

In the back of her mind Avery knew she couldn't really change fate's course and that Elena's doppleganger status would cause problems eventually. It was for that reason she decided she would let the Salvatores stay in town. Perhaps they would stick around long enough to protect Elena when the time came. She wouldn't try to compel or kill them unless they kept provoking her and she also wouldn't interfere in their business too much. From the looks of it, they were their own worst enemies. She wouldn't need to keep Damon in check as that was Stefan's job and that would also keep him distracted enough to never pry into whatever she was up to.

It was a win win situation for her. The only thing she needed to do now was stay in the background and watch things play out by themselves. She would reveal herself to be a vampire when the time was right and work on gaining their trust from there. If Katherine could manipulate them once, so could she.

After all, Avery was the one who taught her everything she knew.

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own any content from The Vampire Diaries or The Originals. (Can someone let me know if I have to say this every chapter?)**

 **Please review/ follow/ favourite!** **Tell me what you'd prefer. Shorter chapters and quicker updates or longer chapters and slower updates?**

 **THANKS FOR READING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	3. A Simple Boutique Owner

Avery Mikaelson was anything but simple.

Avery Brown however was a simple boutique owner. It had taken her only five minutes to decide what her career would be once she arrived in Mystic Falls. She was a lover of fashion and comfort, and unlike her younger sister she believed both things could be combined together well. So it was no surprise when her shop was opened that it contained everything from skinny jeans to long floor length dresses. She had clothes brought in from different countries; materials ranging from cotton to silk. There were fitting skirts and business dresses, shirts and blouses, long fall coats and leather jackets, knee high boots and classic high heels; everything she had ever wanted and desired was in this little shop.

Avery felt like she was walking in her own personal closet.

She felt a sense of accomplishment as she saw people admiring the clothes as well and stepping in line to pay for them. She couldn't remember the last time she had done something like this. A thousand years of living and she still had so many things to check off her to do list.

As she walked around the room she kept a watchful eye on the two employees she hired a few days ago. It didn't require any compelling on her part which she was thankful for because she wanted to do nothing to raise suspicions. Gianna was a recent high school graduate who couldn't afford to go to college and had to stay behind to take care of her sick father. Dorian was a senior in Mystic Falls High who was saving up to travel in his summer break. They both seemed responsible and eager to work so she hired them on the spot.

What's the worst that could happen? If they slacked off she could just fire them. Or even better, she could use them as her personal blood supply when she got bored of blood bags and _compel_ them to work harder.

She would not tolerate slackers.

"How are you ladies doing?" Avery asked a couple of arguing girls standing around a rack of clothes. After they said they didn't need any help she walked away to find other people to talk to. That's when Elena walked in with Stefan; Caroline and Bonnie towing in behind them.

"Hi!" she exclaimed, hugging the brunette. She offered smiles to the others. They hadn't really spoken much at the Founders party and she was unsure of what to say to them.

"Hey. This looks amazing Avery!" Elena told her, staring around the room in awe. Bonnie nodded her head while Caroline tried to hide how impressed she was.

"Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. You remember Caroline and Stefan, right? This is my best friend Bonnie."

"Nice to meet you," Avery said, remembering not to shake hands with the young witch from the Bennett bloodline. According to her spies Bonnie had not come into power yet, but she knew it was just a matter of time.

"So this boutique is mainly for women's fashion, but we do have a small place at the side of the room for guys if you're interested," she told Stefan to strike up a conversation with the other vampire. The first step to gaining someone's trust is talking to them of course. Avery hoped that Stefan would think of her as a friend before finding out what she was so it would be harder for him to hate her afterwards.

"I'll take a look at it." He told her with a small, awkward smile on his face. Avery made a mental note that he seemed like the shy, loner type; kind of like Jeremy Gilbert. Completely different from his older brother. Where was Damon anyways? Locked up in a coffin? Chained up in an attic? Staked?

No. Stefan wouldn't actually kill his brother.

She had lived a long time hating her own siblings but she had never actually killed them. Even Klaus who pretended that he had buried their daggered siblings in the ocean still cartered around the bodies with him where ever he went. Immortality was a curse and having someone with you for eternity was a gift. The vampires that you loved and the vampires that you hated were all constants. With changing times and and the evolving world it was very important to have constants so you didn't lose your mind. We all needed someone who reminded us of who we really were.

"Ugh. Why is my mom here?" asked Caroline, frowning at the sight of Liz Forbes.

Avery didn't know if she should comment on that so she stayed quiet. As soon as Liz spotted them and walked closer, Caroline bolted and took off to the opposite side of the room, dragging Bonnie along with her.

Liz sighed as she reached the group of three. Smiling tiredly at Avery she asked, "So much for being the cool mom, huh?"

"Teenagers," Avery said with a 'what-can-you-do' shrug.

She ended up speaking to Liz for a long time, much to her disappointment as Stefan and Elena had moved on to other things. She wanted to continue her conversation with the Salvatore brother.

"I just don't know what to do about her," Liz carried on to say. "We used to be close you know. Before the whole thing with her father she could at least tolerate being in the same room as me."

"Don't worry about it too much. I know girls like her, Liz. She can hold the biggest grudge but the moment you stop caring in return she'll come around."

"So I should pretend I don't care anymore?" she asked in confusion.

Avery resisted sighing out loud. "No. Just be patient. And maybe get her involved in other activities to take her mind off it. That might help."

The sheriff thought about it for a moment. "You used to study psychology didn't you?"

Avery nodded slowly. Where was she going with this?

"Yes. I dropped out third year."

"Then maybe you could speak to her about it? Give her some advice?" Liz asked pleadingly. Avery was pretty sure this came from the gossip about her being an orphan rather than her studying psychology. She wanted to say no right away, but then remembered that she had to play the role of the friendly new neighbour. Part of that job description detailed doing things for others and building relationships. Bleh.

"Caroline could really use an older role model. They all could." Liz's eyes travelled to the trio of girls. Elena had lost both her parents, Caroline was going through a parent's messy divorce, and Bonnie never had a mother in her life. She had heard it all before. The story tugged at her little heartstrings, sure, but was she really up for being a mentor to these teenage girls?

She would be a terrible role model. Just look at how Katherine turned out!

But it could help her in the long run, she thought contemplatively. She had to play her role properly, after all. _Avery Brown_ needed to be slowly ingrained into their lives as someone significant. What to do, what to do.

"Maybe..." Avery paused, thinking about it. "Maybe Caroline could work here. I could hire another employee. I know she has school so she could arrange flexible shifts with me."

Liz's eyes widened. "That's a great idea!"

Avery nodded, feeling a little uneasy at the thought. Caroline had a thing with Damon and if he got out he would no doubt follow her here. She wasn't sure if she wanted him snooping around near her boutique.

Just as she thought that she saw Elena, Bonnie, and Stefan leaving the shop with bags in their hands. She tuned in to hear Bonnie telling Caroline who was still waiting in line that they would meet her at the school. They apparently needed to go work on preparations for a charity car wash that was the very next day. She turned her head away from them, going back to speaking with Liz before a scream caught her attention.

Somehow between the front doors opening and closing, a crow had managed to get inside the boutique and land right infront of Caroline on the huge check-out counter. People stared at in shock, either yelling out for someone to do something or laughing at the hilariousness of it all.

Avery fumed. What was up with all these stupid ravens in this town? She had noticed quite a few around, but never had she seen one purposely try to enter an indoor public location. Birds just didn't do that unless they had a death wish.

While everyone else was busy freaking out Caroline just stood facing the bird in a trance. That was until Avery stealthily tip toed behind the bird and grabbed it in her hands. People gasped. A part of her wanted to snap the thing's neck right then and there but she figured 'Bird Killer' or 'Animal Hater' wouldn't be great reputations to have in this small minded community.

The crow twisted and turned, trying to flap it's wings and fly away. It made the most horrible cawing sound that people clapped their hands onto their ears to dull out. She held it away from her body as she calmly walked outside, aware of everyone's eyes on her, and set it down on the ground away from the boutique.

Avery waited for it to fly away but it just stood there. Staring at her. Blinking his beady little eyes.

What the hell?

"Shoo," she said, waving her arms at the bird. "Shoo!"

Her own eyes narrowed at the crow as he continued to not move. His body faced the doors of her shop and his round head was turned towards her in a way that she almost felt like he was challenging her; promising that he'd go back inside.

"Don't even think about it," she said crossly as if he could actually understand her. Something was nagging at her in the back of her mind, making her feel like there was something odd about this situation. Something she was forgetting.

Right when she almost turned her body around she saw a flash of an image inside her head. It lasted barely five seconds but she saw Damon looking very tired and pale and behind bars.

 _So he was in a cell._

Avery froze still, furrowed her eyebrows just the right amount, and shook her head pretending to clear her mind. She had to make it look like she was confused about what just happened, even though she wasn't, and act like she thought it was her imagination playing tricks on her, even though she knew the trickster was actually Damon. Exactly what a regular, normal human would do.

The bird flew and landed in front of her again as she walked back to the store but she paid it no attention. The next time he tried to get inside her head to make Avery come free him from his house she pretended that she didn't see any of his visions. She wanted him to think that he was too weak to do it right. She wanted him to lie there in despair when it wouldn't work on her and come to the conclusion that he had reached the point of not being able to get any help from people outside. She wanted him out of her sight for good.

He was trying to screw with her mind, so it was only fair she screwed with his.

* * *

As Monday turned to Tuesday and the talk of the town changed from her boutique opening to the high school car wash, Avery made a list of things she had to accomplish this week. Since she had taken over the job of Mystic Fall's secret gaurdian angel - just the thought of it made her cringe - Avery had a lot of things on her plate.

First, she had to find out where the moonstone was. It was an important part of Klaus's ritual to become a hybrid so she absolutely needed it in her own hands.

Second, she needed to start forming an alliance, er... _friendship_ with Stefan Salvatore. He was getting close to Elena and that meant he was going to be sticking around. Avery could of course compel him to leave town and forget about her, but what would be the fun in that? She was all for young love as long as it didn't interfere with her plans. Stefan could still prove to be useful.

Damon on the other hand was unpredicatable. And unpredictable people didn't make reliable minions.

While she parked her car at the school right when Stefan finished washing someone else's vehicle, Avery began to imagine the different scenarios that could take place if Damon got free and tried to open the tomb.

Stefan, without Avery's help, would be no match for Damon considering his diet. Damon would likely succeed in opening the tomb if Avery didn't do anything. The question was, did she want to do something or just let fate run it's course? Avery wanted Damon gone and the only way she knew that would be possible was if he found out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb. That way, there would be no reason for him to stay.

On the other hand if he did manage to open the tomb a whole lot of dessicated vampires would also be set free. When they recognized Elena's resemblance to Katherine, one of them might spread the news of a living doppleganger. No doubt Klaus and Elijah would come looking for Elena, and even though she knew getting involved in this would result in meeting again, Avery wasn't sure if she was ready to come face to face with them just yet.

Just the thought of seeing her older brothers caused a wave of emotions to wash over her. She couldn't pin point exactly what she was supposed to feel. Nervousness? Sadness? Anger? Nostalgia? Whatever it was, Avery didn't like it. She didn't like feeling not in control. Her family always tended to bring out her emotional side, much to her dismay. She spent years building up the image of a bad-ass, manipulative, bitch who couldn't give a damn about anyone else but bring up the topic of her family and all her walls came down; crumbled for everyone to see her insecurities and fear-

"Avery? _Avery?_ "

She snapped out of her thoughts and caught eyes with Stefan. He was leaning down into her car window; a washcloth in one hand and soap in the other. His precious daylight ring caught the reflection of the Sun, shining brightly as he moved his hand to her door handle.

"You should probably get out of the car before I wash it," he said opening the door for her.

Avery scolded herself for getting lost in her mind again. Thinking about _them_ again. Wishing things were different again.

'Melodramatic much?' she asked herself, getting out of her blue Subaru.

Stefan stared at her quietly as she smoothed out any creases to her pink top and white jeans. Her cream ankle boots tapped on the ground underneath her feet as she walked over to the passenger side and pulled out her purse. She felt the younger vampire's gaze still trained on her, glancing over her clothes. It was a pretty hot day but she had chosen to wear jeans and boots so she could hide her anklet from curious eyes. Of course she wasn't dumb enough to wear a tacky necklace or ring to come out into the sunlight like the brothers. Lapus lazuli was very recognizble to the trained eye.

Avery just hoped that autumn would arrive soon. She wasn't sure how long she could defend wearing boots instead of flip flops to Jenna.

"Are you okay?"

The question came from Stefan who looked surprisingly concerned. Her insides melted with glee. His concern was just what she needed for what she had in plan in the long run. It was a sign that he cared.

Keeping her face blank of emotion, she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been that kind of a day, you know?"

He nodded in return, telling her he knew exactly what she meant.

"So, hey, I didn't see your brother yesterday. In fact, I haven't seen him at all for the past few days. He promised he'd make a stop at the boutique when it opened. Don't tell me he left town already?"

Stefan's eyes widened in surprise. He was caught off gaurd by her question, that was for sure. After taking a moment to recollect his thoughts, he said, "I'm sorry, but he did leave town. Damon's not really the kind of guy who sticks around in one place for a long time. I didn't know you two were friends?"

The way his voice raised a notch higher at the end made it clear that he wanted me to answer.

"Not friends, really. Accomplices would be a better term for it. I only spoke to him a few times," Avery replied, totally lying. Then after a second passed she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and added, "Oh, well. That's too bad. I really thought he would stay awhile longer."

Stefan's shoulders were hunched up and a deep frown was beginning to settle on his face. Avery walked away from him without looking back and grinned on the inside. From what she had seen so far Stefan only cared about two things. One was Elena Gilbert and the other was making sure Damon didn't hurt anyone.

What better way to put herself on his radar and gain his concern, which in her diabolical mind would eventually turn to care and friendship, other than hinting that she was someone who Damon was interested in hurting?

Sometimes even she didn't know how she could stand being so manipulative.

But then as she saw people like Jenna who was laughing at something Logan 'Scum' Fell said, she remembered why exactly she was doing this. It wasn't because she just liked messing with people, even though that was undeniably fun. It wasn't because she wanted to pick sides between Klaus and Elijah or because she wanted to see what Katherine had left her for. It wasn't because she was a thrill seeker who wanted to put herself smack in the middle of what she knew was going to be a long fought battle between vampires, werewolves, and witches.

No. The real reason she wanted to stay in Mystic Falls and play her own games behind everybody else's backs was damage control. Without someone cool headed to play mediator or strong enough to help protect the weak there would be a lot of casualties in this war. Collateral damage was a given, but she wanted to keep it to a minimum. She had witnessed first hand what fights between Originals could do to people involved and around them.

She wasn't doing this because she was a bad person with her own secret agenda. Not at all. In her opinion, manipulating these people was the only way she could save them from harm. Of course they might find out a lot of things about her later on and resent her for her secrets, but by then she hoped that they trusted her enough to still believe her when she said she wanted to help.

She did have other reasons to get involved too. One of them being that Avery wanted to quit playing cat and mouse with her brothers. The rumours in the supernatural world were that there were only two Originals still living. Klaus the cruel and dangerous one who did anything to get what he wanted, and Elijah the moral and powerful one who kept Klaus in check. Most people believed that the other siblings were killed by Klaus, even though they didn't know exactly how an Original could be killed. For the ones who did know about the mystical daggers, they believed that the rest of us were victims of Klaus's rage and that our dessicated bodies were thrown into the ocean.

Finn had been daggered for so long that people either didn't know or forgot about him. Kol was daggered quite a few times in the past, but he was a constant recurring figure who had been in the public eye for a long time as well. He nor Rebekah had ever tried to hide who they were.

It was only Avery who left the prestigous Mikaelson name behind for good. Avery who Klaus wanted to hunt down and probably dagger for abandoning them. In reality she and Kol had basically done the same thing; neither of them could live under their elder brothers' rules so they left. The only difference between them was that Avery didn't get caught. She was the only Original besides Elijah who had never been daggered. As she lived on her own and made her identity known to only a few select people Avery Mikaleson became a myth. The beautiful and cunning Original sister who outsmarted both her brothers. Nowadays, the small group of supernaturals who believed in the Originals also believed that Avery must have been daggered along with Finn, Kol, and Rebekah since she hadn't made herself known for a long time.

Truth be told, she was getting a little tired of avoiding her brothers. Looking over your shoulders for eternity was not how she wanted to live the rest of her immortal life. She figured that if Elijah and Klaus were going to have a showdown she might as well join in on the fun. Despite recent gossip, the two brothers were not on the best of terms. When she herself heard news that Klaus had thrown her siblings' bodies into the ocean, she furiously went after Klaus without any sort of plan in mind. She had found his location in Germany at the time and when he was out of the house, she had snooped around the place, soon finding the coffins of her siblings. Avery was tempted to undagger them but she knew that if she actually did it, there would be no way that she would be getting out of that country undaggered herself. So reluctantly, she left them as they were and ran without any trace of her being there.

The experience made her realize that her brother was only pretending to be this evil and that even he wouldn't cross certain lines. She still hated him, and Elijah, for what they did to her in the past, but she begrudgingly accepted that she had to put it behind her if she ever wanted things to change. The way things were going now, with Elijah on a mission to use the doppleganger to lure out Klaus and kill him, Avery making a new identity for herself and living a hundred lies, and the rest of her poor siblings, things weren't looking so good.

Avery wanted nothing more than for her brothers to ask for her forgiveness and in return apologize for leaving them and never returning. She wanted to see Kol and Rebekah, and even Finn again. She wanted Klaus to undagger them and put away his foolish mission to replace hybrids as his family. If that meant that he had to break his curse first, then hell, she'd even help him!

She certainly didn't want Elijah to kill Klaus before they could all have a chance at a happy ending.

That landed herself in a very special position of conflict. When things got rolling she would not only have to decide between Elijah and Klaus, but also her siblings and the Mystic Falls Gang as she liked to call them. Stefan and Bonnie, the Bennett witch, would no doubt try to stop them from taking Elena. There might be others by then who would also try to fight Klaus and Elijah from taking over Mystic Falls. Avery wasn't sure what she would do then.

All she knew for now was that she wanted all the cards of the deck to be in her hands. She wanted control over Elena, over the moonstone, and over the people of the town. She didn't know what was going to happen when people found out about the next doppleganger, but if she had anything to do with it, Avery was determined to make sure that everyone she cared about was going to live to see another day.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or The Originals.**

 **Next Update: Not anytime soon unfortunately. Besides being really busy with life outside of ffn it's come to my notice that there are some websites spamdexing (I think that's the proper term?) all stories on this website. Basically they are mirror copies of this website that look slightly different and have pop up ads for products/services. They are profiting from all our pieces of work and until this stops I will not continue to post my stories here. Once I get the time to return to writing I might publish this story on Wattpad. If that happens I will definitely post an A/N about it.** **So, sorry to say it but it looks like my time on fanfiction has come to an end for now.**


End file.
